Privacy policy
Smoke Organic South Africa (Pty) Ltd (registration 2020/667706/07), trading as Smoke Organic Store ("we"), respects your privacy. This policy explains how we process personal information in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
Information Officer: Charl Jones, Director. Email orders@smokeorganic.co.za.
What we collect
- Order and account information: your name, email address, mobile number, delivery address or collection point, order history and any messages you send us. We do not receive or store your card details; payments are processed by our payment service providers.
- Age check: before checkout we ask for your date of birth. Your browser works out whether you are 18 or older; your date of birth is not sent to us or stored. We save only a note on your order that you declared you are 18 or older, with the date you declared it, and set a cookie (so_age_verified) so we don't ask again on that browser for up to 365 days.
- Device and usage information: IP address, browser and device details, and how you use our site, collected through cookies and similar technologies, including Microsoft Clarity, which we use to understand how the site is used. Personal fields, such as the date-of-birth boxes, are masked from it.
Why we use it, and our lawful basis
- To fulfil your order and our contract with you (POPIA s11(1)(b)): payment, delivery, order updates by email and WhatsApp, returns and support.
- To prevent sales to minors and to prevent fraud (s11(1)(f), our legitimate interest in selling age-restricted products responsibly and securely), including the age check and fraud screening of orders.
- To keep records required by law (s11(1)(c)), such as tax records.
- To send marketing, only where you have opted in or are an existing customer. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Giving your information is voluntary, but without it, or if you are under 18, we cannot take your order.
Who we share it with
Only as needed to provide our service:
- Shopify, our e-commerce platform, which stores data outside South Africa under its own privacy and data-transfer terms;
- our payment service providers;
- our shipping app and couriers;
- our service providers for reviews, customer support, accounting, email and site analytics.
We may also disclose information where the law requires it. We do not sell personal information.
How long we keep it
Order records, including the age-declaration note, are kept for five years to meet tax record-keeping requirements, then deleted or de-identified. Marketing preferences are kept until you unsubscribe.
Security
We use reputable service providers with appropriate security safeguards and limit staff access to what each person needs.
Your rights
You may ask to see the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct or delete it. You may also object to our processing it, or withdraw marketing consent. Contact orders@smokeorganic.co.za. You may also complain to the Information Regulator at inforeg.org.za.
Children
Our site and products are for adults only. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
Changes
We may update this policy; the current version is always on this page.
